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Re: Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

The problem with electric vehicles, as I think many people fail to realize, is that the largest source of electricity generation in this country is coal, which is in fact dirtier than oil. I misspoke when I said it's impossible to become energy independent. If we invest in renewable energy, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc, I do think it's possible. But merely switching to electric vehicles would in fact make air less clean unless we can change the sources of our energy to these cleaner, continually available sources. Thanks for the correction.

Re: Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

Originally Posted by ihallhou

The problem with electric vehicles, as I think many people fail to realize, is that the largest source of electricity generation in this country is coal, which is in fact dirtier than oil. I misspoke when I said it's impossible to become energy independent. If we invest in renewable energy, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc, I do think it's possible. But merely switching to electric vehicles would in fact make air less clean unless we can change the sources of our energy to these cleaner, continually available sources. Thanks for the correction.

Re: Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

I am fine with nuke power...but not living within 20 miles of a plant (especially if it was a house I owned).

A rental is not so big a deal...I can just abandon it if the excrement hits the fan.

You get more radiation exposure from eating one banana than you do from living by a nuclear reactor for a year.

EDIT: And regarding accidents, the average dose for someone living within 10 miles of Three Mile Island when the accident happened is about the same dose as you get from living in a brick/concrete house for a year.

Re: Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

Originally Posted by Nilly

You get more radiation exposure from eating one banana than you do from living by a nuclear reactor for a year.

EDIT: And regarding accidents, the average dose for someone living within 10 miles of Three Mile Island when the accident happened is about the same dose as you get from living in a brick/concrete house for a year.

It's not the radiation from daily operations I am concerned about...it's the chance of an accident (as remote as it maybe).

Like I said, renting would be no big deal, but I would not own a house.

Re: Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

I don't think it's one or the other. I'd love to see wind, solar, geo-thermal, etc. take off.

Unfortunately, Wind and Solar were pushed not on the basis of being a viable alternative to alternative fuels, or on the basis of being practical in any sense.

Instead of being market driven they were pushed under a ideological pretense. THE Politicized narrative of AGW told us we had to invest mass amounts of money into sub-standard, wasteful and inefficient technologies, or else.

Germany dove head first into Alternative energy to the point of absurdity. They shut down their nuke plants, and invested massive amounts of money into becoming the first Country that was 100 % powered through " renewable energies ".

They invested untold amounts of money into building great Wind farms and Solar Power plants that were heralded as unprecedented technological accomplishments. Those responsible for Germany's green energy revolution should be held criminally accountable for their malfeasance.

The Politicians in Germany, misguided by a ideological construct committed the Citizens of Germany to this " green revolution " nightmare, and now German citizens pay 300 % MORE for their electricity than the average American does.

The only way Solar and Wind can be " viable ", the only way they can compete with fossil fuel technology, or nuclear technology is if they're heavily subsidized by the Tax payer.

German citizens are currently paying 20 Billion dollars for electricity with a 3 Billion dollar market price. Germany now burns MORE Coal than they did before they shut down their Nuke plants due to the inherent lags of power that come with wind and solar and they're currently building MORE Coal fired plants.

Their air is dirtier than it was prior to shutting down their nuke plants.

Germany has huge wind-farms off the coast that are not tied into main power grid because they simply cannot afford to complete the installation and they CANT tax the already over burdened German citizen anymore.

Even the German Government has finally acknowledged that their " Green revolution " was a total failure.

" In a stunning admission, the German Government recently announced that its transition to Renewable Energy was, “On the Verge of Failure.” This blunt statement was released by Germany’s Economic Minister and Vice Chancellor to Angela Merkel, Sigmar Gabriel at an event at SMA Solar… Germany’s leading manufacturer of Solar technology. "

Re: Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

Originally Posted by ihallhou

The problem with electric vehicles, as I think many people fail to realize, is that the largest source of electricity generation in this country is coal, which is in fact dirtier than oil. I misspoke when I said it's impossible to become energy independent. If we invest in renewable energy, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc, I do think it's possible. But merely switching to electric vehicles would in fact make air less clean unless we can change the sources of our energy to these cleaner, continually available sources. Thanks for the correction.

Re: Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

Originally Posted by ihallhou

The problem with electric vehicles, as I think many people fail to realize, is that the largest source of electricity generation in this country is coal, which is in fact dirtier than oil. I misspoke when I said it's impossible to become energy independent. If we invest in renewable energy, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc, I do think it's possible. But merely switching to electric vehicles would in fact make air less clean unless we can change the sources of our energy to these cleaner, continually available sources. Thanks for the correction.

While coal power plants are indeed the dirtiest form of electrical generation, they are still cleaner than millions of individual cars burning gasoline.

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